Fan Bar: Get Insider Info on Scarecrow and Mrs. King w/ The Mrs. King’s Chronicles

Hello, this is Susan. Just a quick note about this episode. Kind Of like the Q Bureau in Scarecromisus King, sometimes files get left behind, some cases are never solved, and some podcast episodes take a little while to make it to launch, like this one. This episode, featuring the guests of the Scarecrow Missus King walkthrough podcast the Missus King Chronicles, was actually recorded almost two years ago. It's a little bit of a time capsule and for reasons mostly boring and also involving long los zoom recordings, we are finally able to bring it to you our listeners.

Many thanks to Taya, Jen and Miranda for being so patient, and a big shout out to Lexi, the fourth podcaster on Missus King Chronicles, who was also not able to be part of this interview but is a big part of the SMK fandom. So here finally is eighties TV Ladies fan bar on the Missus King Chronicle fan podcast and the women who made it. Enjoy eighties. So Pretty, Through the City and. The man World.

Welcome to eighties TV Ladies, where we look back in order to leap forward. Here are your hosts, Susan Lambert, had him and Sharon Johnson. I'm Susan and I'm a secret fan of the seventies Sid and Marty Croft Show, Electro Woman and Dinah Girl. But don't tell anyone, and I'm Sharon. My secret fan.

Guilty Pleasure is General Hospital on ABC, one of the last I guess It's now three remaining soap operas on network television. Days of Our Lives is now exclusively being shown on Peacock. So yes, I am a soap opera fan. We won't tell here. At Eighties TV Ladies, we love to hear from our fans.

Feedback, questions and comments from our listeners bring us a lot of joy, so keep them coming. This episode is going to be about the Missus King Chronicles, so it's time to belly up to the Eighties TV Ladies Fan Bar, where we explore that special area of Eighties nostalgia, the television show fandom. Television shows have fans that live beyond the life of the show itself. Certainly, we're in a time of great nostalgia for an unprecedented access to eighties television shows, which is one of the reasons we started this podcast. Indeed, lots of reboots are always happening of eighties TV.

A few years ago, Dynasty Murphy Brown were rebooted. More recently, Punky Brewster, Roseanne now called The Connors, and Quantum Leap. Why do we think they're rebooting, Sharon. Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that these days it's much harder to reach an audience with a brand new show with brand new stories and characters. But if you start from reb voting a show that some people, if not a lot of people already know or know about, it makes it that much easier, perhaps to get an audience to come and watch your show on whatever platform it.

May be on name brand recognition exactly, instant audience connection, right. One of the reasons we have the movie Battleship. Yes, based on a game I actually had forgotten that that existed, but yes, exactly. It's a perfect example. This is not an eighties DV ladies show at all, but it is an eighties show.

The a team just resonated with me immediately. I love that show in ways I cannot really defend now, though a lot of people love that show because the characters were so fresh, they seem so fresh to me, and the concept seemed super fun. But anyway, that's I just I'm curious about why we love the things we love. They become the things we look back upon. It's today's fan bar.

We're going to be looking at the scare Chro Missus King themed fandom. I feel like we should have some specialty cocktails for our fan bar so we can raise a glass to the love of television here with our special guests. Today's special guests are also fellow podcasters. They have been doing an episode walkthrough of Scarecrow Missus King all eighty eight episodes. Welcome to the show, Taya Johnston, Jennifer Peterson, and Miranda Thomas.

Welcome, Hi everyone, Hi, thank you for having us. We're very excited to have you on our podcast. It's like a party. So we're going to go one by one for a minute, just because I want listeners to be able to match your voice to your name. Well, go alphabetical order by last name.

I guess. So I'm going to ask you to introduce yourself, tell where you're podcasting from, and let us know what is bringing you joy these days. So Taya Johnston, Yeah, you're gonna go first. Jennifer, You're on deck. Okay, So yeah, Tayo Johnston and I am podcasting from Clarkston, Michigan, and it's about about almost an hour north of Detroit, so metro Detroit area.

And what brings me joy actually right now a lot of crafting stuff, which I usually don't get to do. I'm not very crafty, but I've been into the cricket and making tumblers and shirts and ornaments. And all kinds of stuff. So that's been my outlet. That sounds awesome.

Yeah. Hi, I'm Jennifer Peterson and I'm from Beaverton, Oregon, so people might know Beaverton Nikey Headquarters, Pacific Northwest Portland, Oregon suburb. Lots of hiking around here, so that's what breaks me joy. I'm outside a lot exercise, hiking, and yeah, dance class. What kind of dance I do?

A lot of zoomba held Zumba. I used to zoomba I love because a dear friend of mine zoomba and so he actually passed away then, but I to like one of the things that I did to kind of process was I was like, I'm going to go to zoomba class. So I went to like three and I pretty much cried through all of them, and so I think everybody thought it was weird, but it was very cathartic for me. Yeah. You know why I like zoomba because you can't think about anything else.

You're doing choreography and dance moves and you can't think about the list of things you have to do when you get home, all things behind on and of course the exercise. So yeah, I guess next to me, yes, Miranda, Okay, So I am Miranda Thomas. I am podcasting from my bedroom, more specifically in Florence, Kentucky. I'm about fifteen minutes south of Cincinnati, so I'm like right by the Ohio border, close enough that I can throw a rock and hit Cincinnati. So that not that I've tried what brings me joy.

I was thinking about it and I was going to take Tao's but since she already did crafting, I am doing nano Rimo. So I am trying to write a book again. I've tried it a couple of times before, So that's that's bringing me both joy and stress a little bit this month. All right, for our listeners, can you tell us what now is? Nano Rimo is national novel writing month.

So it's a challenge to try to write fifty thousand words on a novel in one month, so you average about I think it's like sixteen hundred words a day or something like that, so that you can get to the end of the month and have a full novel written. Wow. Yeah, So I have tried it many times and never successfully gott into the fifty thousand worners. But have you gotten further in your novel? Oh?

Yes, absolutely, absolutely so. It's it's an excuse to get me to write. So that's that's joyful. This trying to get to the fifty thousand words is the not so joyful. That's a lot of words.

Maybe lower it, lower. Your yeah, lower my expectations, and just just do the writing every day. It sounds like you're at least making progress, and that's that's it. That's a that's a win in and of itself. Yeah, exactly.

Someday when I'm going to write a novel, I'm going to do that. I'm going to start there. It's because there's a lot of other people that do it, so there's a lot of support, Like you can find other people to like cheer you on. So it's fun. Yeah, I've done sort of the Dramatist Guild equivalent for playwriting is called end of Play.

I did it and it was great, and I did right end of play, but there's a big chunk in the middle that's just a lot of notes. That's okay. I have a very good have a very good road map, and it was a good progress And again, it's a good way to sort of get yourself into the rhythm of things. We all need that sort of thing like looming podcasting, dropping deadlines to actually edit podcast. Things like that.

So we're going to go backwards to the order, starting with Miranda, what or who got you into Scarecrow Missus King for the first time? So, my mother watched the show when I was a wee child. I was six years old, I guess five or six years old, and I remember watching it with her. But then what really got me into it? When I was in Layton High School and early college, I watched all of the reruns and so at that point, you know, I'm an impressible, impressionable eighteen nineteen year old and I'm like, I want to be a spy.

I want a Bruce Boxleitner. You know, So that's what. Got me into it very I guess seriously. Is the best way to term it. But it ebbs and flows.

I still go back and watch the show a lot, but I'm not as dedicated as maybe the some of. The other people you're going to hear from in a moment. We all have our own levels of dedication. Yeah, do all our things. Jennifer, what about you?

Where did you start? Yeah? So I also started watching I watched as a child in the eighties. I'm fifty one now, so it was probably like, yeah, in my early teens, and I am a scientist, so I have a highly technical career and I like to like dabble and going back and rewatching some of the older shows from my eighties childhood. So I just picked up sacs Is King one time and like, I like that show, and I got really into it, and then I found myself like connecting with people.

Taya was the first time I connected, and we went to and met up at a Hollywood show to meet sort of a cast and became really good friends. So it was more just loving the show but also finding a really great group of friends to connect with at that time. So I'd say both both things. That's great, and Taya Mine was the actual series premiere. I was ten years old and I saw this and I hadn't watched you know, at ten, I didn't know.

I didn't know. Charlie's Angels or Bring Him Back Live. I didn't know any of that. I just saw the preview, the series preview, and I was like, oh my gosh, I love all of that. You know, I Kick Jackson has like been my idol since I first saw that preview, I think, and uh, just I was a die hard fan my entire life.

And I don't know why that show specifically, It's not there's not been another show. I don't get into shows like that like I do this one. And it's just I don't know. There's just some magic there that just pulled me in and so I watched it any chance I could. I mean, I didn't.

Miss a show during the full run. And then it came out. I was at PAS. I think reshowed it and other channels like Lifetime later yeah, I think Family and they and they kind of butchered it. But yeah, and then when I was after I had my first son, I was twenty seven, I had He has a chronic illness, and I had just a lot going on, and I like was seeking out something that brought me joy.

And the internet, you know, was I think it was just getting kind of started. It was two thousand, yeah, exactly, and so I was like, hey, I wonder if there's anything online. And then I found this community and I met Miranda shortly thereafter, and we've been friends for over twenty years, which is mind boggling. And in our days, I know, right, yeah, I'm forty nine. Jen said she was fit one, so I can do that.

Miranda and I started with another friend of ours. We started a SMK themed store. We had like T shirts and bumper stickers and what else do we have friendship like the little bracelets, the car We had episode cards, we had trading cards, we had all sorts of things. So we did that for a few years. I have my website.

I've had on and off. It's been running, you know, for a long time. On that, We've just done a lot of things, and then we did the podcast, and I just seemed the natural progressions, so well, I'm super grateful to your website. By the way, it was. One of the first sites I found when I was like Okay, I guess I better do some homework if we're going to do this thing.

And yeah, and again very thorough and so many great like resources and scripts, and I was just it was just a treasure trove and very very helpful. Oh, thank you, thank you. And so have you guys met at one of the anniversaries or. Jen and I met in twenty seventeen in April at the Hollywood Show. And then Miranda and I met Millie.

Miranda and I went on we did a S and P cruise, we did we did Washington, DC trip for my thirtieth birthday. We did a podcast from the from the anniversary. From the anniversary. Okay, and so will you be going to the next anniversary? I planned to.

Yeah, sure, yeah, we're gonna go. Yeah, because I only mixed one. So yeah, maybe we can do a podcast. We're planning to do a podcast from there as like a you know, like we did the last time for the last thirty fift So maybe we can. Do a we'll do a joint podcast or some kind of crossover episode.

It'll be great. Yeah, that would be fun. That'll be super fun. Actually, that would have been super fun, incredible fun. But dear listeners, We did not do that.

The best day plans of mice and podcasters. You know, someday we may make it happen. Now, tell me about the cruise. Oh that was like it was a weekend cruise Royal Caribbean, right, and I think and there was it was from a group. Chat that we had on Yahoo groups, right, yeah, it was.

Yeah, we are really going back through the internet history. Oh my god, I tell you twenty plus years we've been fun. So yeah, and there was I think maybe a dozen or so of us that when yeah, we went to the Bahamas, I think, yeah, just had a good time, you know, it was fun. And a night in Miami that was fun. Yeah, we talk about that.

Hold on, was Martha Smith there with the Germans? Because that was before I met Martha, although she would have right. We actually we went to a strip clubs all right, the first time I've heard done that. It was really it was it was it was fun. Yeah, Okay, was it a male strip club?

Rip step? I mean I've been in both actually, but you know this was this was this was boy boys, all right? Was it called boy Boys? Because that's pretty good. I know.

No, I have no idea. What it was called, I don't remember. My mom always used to say, you're going to meet the internet, scary scary Internet people, right, and yeah, yeah, the King fans, they're not exactly scary Internet people. What made you guys want to do the podcast? Miranda has time, She's done podcasts for a few shows, and I was looking for a creative outlet, and I thought, hey, why can't we do a podcast?

And I reached out to Miranda and she was game, as she always is. And then a lot of work. She didn't warn me about that much, unfortunately. So I asked Lexie, who she worked for me for a few years and I had introduced her to the show. She was looking It was Christmas time and we were going to be awful two weeks and she wanted something to kind of binge, and I said, well, let me show you this show.

So we watched it on our lunch hour, and she loved it and just fell in love with it, and so she used my dds and then we watched it sometimes at my house and sometimes at work our lunch hours, and then pulled her into it. So she was our what do we call it, our next generation fan? And then I had met Jen right before we did the podcast. We started deciding on the podcast. I've met her at the Hollywood Show where they had a mini S and P reunion.

Was it always going to be an episode by episode podcast or did you consider any other format if you will, I don't think so. It was more of we were going to have eighty eight of them ended up being a few more than next we had some specials and things like that, but yeah, it was always going to be a kind of a recap, a kind of injecting knowledge that we knew, you know, behind the scenes stuff that we had found out, and then it kind of grew from there. You know, we became friends with a few of the cast members, so we were able to get some you know, fun insight from them and interview them, and our basis was talk about the makeup and clothing, the fashion ful Pause, I think we called it. We were going to talk about the episodes itself, behind the scenes stuff, and then we were going to have our video music videos, like giving people recommendations to watch those, and then also I'm the fanfic, so that tied into the episodes.

So it was pretty much how we expected it to be. I think, yeah, it's very cool. I'm really enjoying, particularly the costume stuff. We all have very different opinions too. Sweater vest, no sweater vest, you know, although I guess everybody kind of agrees no sweater vest now, But now, how could you possibly know that in the eighties.

The eighties was a very interesting fashion time. Let's just let's yeah. And it's funny because you know, we lived, the three of us lived through it, and Lexi is rediscovering the eighties because she obviously is a nineties baby and she is really into the retro stuff. So she is like, oh my god, I would die for that. I'm thing, and I would die if I had to.

I would never be brought dead in that, you know. Of course I was caught dead in that because I wouldn't hear that as a child. But like just some of this stuff, it's just interesting how different perspectives there are. And it was funny. Another thing happened which I thought was hilarious.

We were we were recording an episode and they were talking about the two Germany's East German and Western Germany. East Germany and West Germany, and Lexi's like there were two Germanys and I'm like, oh my god, you know, oh my god, she didn't you know, she didn't you know, it wasn't that close to her as it was to us. Sadly, uh. And then another time it was she's like, why don't why don't doesn't he just call on his cell phone? Cell phone, black man, you know, so just stuff like that.

It's just you take it for granted, but it gave a different perspective. It's true. So much phone booth action in the eighties, so much phone brow especially on Scarecrow right calling in Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you had to pull over, and then comes one follow them to the place wherever they're going, and then see if you can find a phone booth to call in. Yeah, that's pretty funny.

That is pretty funny. And ninety four episodes. Congratulations on that. That's huge. We're like tiny babies compared to that.

That is a long It goes by fast, and then it also goes like excruciatingly slow. So it just depends on the day. I think, yeah, thank you. Any podcast tips for podcasters and people that want to do walk throughs. Let's see and I were very.

Diligent. We had a calendar and we said it and we did everything we could, just stay true to that calendar, yep, and if something happened, you know, maybe if Jen couldn't make it one time or Miranda couldn't make it, the show went on, you know, unless it was me, which I think I had to do once or twice because I had the recording, the recording equipment and everything. So that's why. Otherwise it could have gone on without me. But we stuck to it and we did, you know, as best we could.

Sometimes we would have to do back to back and that was that was a killer. It was we would spend you know, three hours recording because you know, our podcasts were typically an hour and a half to two hours anyways, because we added a lot in there. But then you know, to watch it to record it, to set up everything. And then if you've ever listened to our podcast, you know that we go off on major tangents and we talk about all kinds of things I. Don't know, and a lot of our listeners.

Our listeners kind of like that. You know, we heard got feedback that they really enjoyed, you know, the camaraderie between the friends. So we left as much as we could and well and it's clear there's a lot of joy in the podcast, which I respond to, and a lot of love. And you know that and and and that you guys are are really enjoying enjoying the show for sure. For sure, I did.

I think everybody did. I missed just getting together. It was like having a book club. But you have to edit afterwards. What's the hard part.

And we've talked about just you know, getting together, you know, every every other month or something, just to get together and talk because it's you know, it's really nice to have such a shared interest in things and be able to share that joy with somebody. It's really nice. And you know, it's just the editing part that was always hard. You guys are doing it right. You have somebody that does that right.

That's just that Kevin is our shout out number one. Awesome. Yeah, And that was like I mean in the beginning, it was probably twelve to fourteen hours it would take me to edit an episode. Oh my god, shout out. But you were brand new at it too.

Yeah. Yeah. The first time that we recorded it was just Sharon and I and I was trying to run the thing, and yeah, I was like I was like, oh, this is going to be a problem. I completely did it wrong. I recorded, but only one of us, I think only part of the time.

We actually had to re record our first episode because of the sound was just miserable. And yeah, we our first eight I would say, our first eight episodes are horrible and then they get better and we have issues in some of them. But you know, yeah, yeah, it's a it's a learning curve show. Yeah, it's a real learning curve when you're podcasting. And yeah, and I think it's a really I love sort of finding new places to be like, hey, I've never done this before.

I do a podcast and figure out how you do a podcast, and you know, it's a it's a little bit of my sweet spot because I like, you know, I started internet marketing at a time when nobody knew what that meant. It was called internet marketing, and now it's called digital marketing. So and so I sort of like, oh, let's go into this uncharted territory and you know, and start charting, even if it's new to me, Like clearly there's been people podcasting for for decades. So yeah, yeah, yeah, it was all new to us. It was very challenging.

It was frustrating at times, but for the most part it was ninety percent enjoyable. So yeah, I'm glad we did it. Miranda. What are your other shows that you've done or other podcasts? So I started, I don't know if you all have ever seen the well, I say this, have you seen Firefly?

Oh yeah, okay, yeah. So back when Serenity was getting ready to air, the movie was getting ready to go into theaters, I started working on podcasts called The Signal, where I didn't have. To do any of the editing. All I did was use my voice and do whatever they told me to do. So I did that for ten years.

So we did The Signal, and then I also did Firefly Talk, which was mainly interviews with different cast and crew of the show. So those were my first two. Then I decided that I was going to try to do it on our own, and so we started a podcast for the television show Heroes where we would do a recap of the show each week after the show aired. That was called The Ninth. So that was way more work than I ever anticipated.

So we did the first two seasons of that show, and then I started doing a sort of recap Pida cast like we did for scarecre Missus King for a network called the TV rewind Network. So we did Felicity, I did Alias, and we just got finished doing Chuck. So those are pretty much. My my podcast made experiences. I've guested on other people's podcasts a little bit, but yeah.

So that's that's all the fun stuff I've done. That's amazing, it really is. I mean that was two thousand and two, it was. Yeah, it was very early in podcasting. So yeah, we actually won like the Signal one Podcasting Awards and like I don't know, four or five different podcasting awards.

But we had a really big crew, like we had I think at one point twelve people working on that podcast. So we had four editors and I did do some like segment editing for that, but it was it was a big group of people that were on that show. Since it was so early in the world of podcasting. How did that all begin for you? How did you how did you get involved?

So I used to do internet radio. I was at radio DJ on internet radio back I don't know two thousand, two thousand and one something like that, and a friend of mine said, oh, they're going to do a podcast for your show Firefly. I'm like, what are you talking about? What's a podcast? So they hooked me up with the people that were getting it together and we're going to do it.

They actually all. Met on a message board, a Firefly message board back of the day. They are really taking you through. Yes, all right, you might want to go to Yahoo or message boards. Yahoo groups doesn't exist anymore, so you're out of luck.

You're had a look. But but message boards, I don't even know where to go to find those anymore, Like where is the main message board? But I've seen remember being on a couple of message sports, but for the life of me, I can't think of where they were to go to look for them. Yeah, so that's that's how they found each other. And then I was somebody sent me their information so that I could do it.

So that's how I got into it from being an Internet radio DJA. That is fantastic. You're like a You're like a pioneer. Yeah. That was the same time.

So I was working on the Life Aquatic for Disney, which was Wes Anderson Film, and the same producer, Barry Mendel was on that and Serenity and I had to go down and meet with him and getting a meeting with him because he was like basically just in love with the fact that he was doing should the Firefly movie. He was very excited about Serenity as as a lot of the nerds were, you. Know, like yeah, there's definitely a cult of Firefly. So yeah, yeah, So so can you hear the signal today? You still go to the Yeah, you can still go to the website and all of the episodes are still out there.

Serenityfirefly dot com is the website. So wait, so you did ten You did it for ten years. I did it for ten years. And isn't it like thirteen episodes? Thirteen episodes of the show, So how did you?

How did you? So? Okay, So it wasn't just like recapping the show, like we had serials that we did that were like set in the world of Serenity. We had different like like it was all a bunch. It wasn't all just Serenity.

Like we took the the content that was there and sort of like you do your own fan fiction while we did our own audio dramas and different stuff like that, and then we'd also like share whatever news if there was something a cast member or a creator or you know, we would sort of share that on. The podcast as well. So yeah, I love that show, love that show. It's a great show. Oh man, this is the see this is the perfect episode to talk about fandom because we have all sorts of fandoms.

And that's one of my questions is why do you think certain shows complain because a lot of shows resonate like if you, if you there, there are shows that are beloved by anybody that watched them that are like secret, Like there shows I'm like, well, yeah, I'm not gonna tell anybody that I love that show, but I love that show because I saw it when I was six and it just you know whatever. But then there are the shows I think like Scarecromus is King, and then of course the Star Treks and and and all that stuff. But but also Firefly a Seat. It was a season. It's like, yeah, the season, and that show has a huge fan base, you know, like like percent, Like if you it's a distilled fan base because it's so so little to work with, right.

It's one thing to be a fan of Buffy because you got you know, seven seasons, seven seasons, you know, and. Then if you really take it, you can Angel Yes, yeah. But what do you what do you think it is that that makes a show resonate and to carry a fandom through kind of from beginning to way beyond the life of the show. Well, clearly we have a lot to talk about. We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be back.

All right, we're back. I think first and foremost it's the stories they're telling. If the story is going to resonate with more people because they either one understand the situations that the characters are going through or can identify with it, even if it's science fiction. If they can somehow put themselves in that same situation or feel that character, I think that's one thing that will drive people to come back to a show over and over and over again. I mean, like in Scarecromisus King, it was for me, it was about fantasy fulfillment.

I wanted to be the suburban spy mom. You know. I wanted to be even at nineteen years old. I wanted to be, you know, just like Amanda King. I wanted to help people and do all the things that I could and use my smarts to outwit the bad guys.

So I think if you can see yourself, I think for me, that's the thing that resonates with me the most. It makes me a bigger fan of a show like that. I think chemistry plays a big part in it too. There is some magic that some shows have, Like you know, if you look back at if we're talking about Scarecrow, at the time, we had Rummington Steel, we had to Heart, we had Moonlighting. I watched those on occasions, but it wasn't must see TV.

You know if you will, It wasn't I had to see these. It was very specifically Scarecrow, and I think I was drawn in. I think, at least in our group of our MPC ladies, the four of us, it was a draw to the strong character of Amanda. And correct me if I'm wrong, ladies, but I think that because we're all very strong women, I think we were drawn to that as well. I know I was, and.

We've talked about it before and I know we all have agreed that that was a big pull for us. It was very much the strong Amanda character that. That pulled us in. I think a big, big thing. And of course Bruce Box laying there is not hard to look at either.

So there's always that, But sometimes his character could be a bit of a jerk too, So a big chunk during the first season for sure. Yeah, it's a good thing. He's good looking. Yes, you know right, I'm like, okay, we're giving you a pass. Tall.

I wanted to shove him down those stairs in the first episode, So. Get yourself together. Yes we know your torture. Yeah, yeah, we got it. Jennifer, What are your thoughts about that about fandom?

Yeah, I think definitely the chemistry is a big one. But for me, I'll just emphasize I was always attracted. It just shows that gave me a very strong woman character. The eighties was sort of breaking out a lot of you know, there's a lot of traditional roles for women. It was the first time when we could be police officers.

You know, there's just a lot of strong roles. And even Amanda being sort of a housewife she was divorced, which was I think unique at the time, kind of took on sort out of that unique role as going out and being a spy, which was kind of cool and just you know, the same thing girl said, just wanting to be that myself in a time when I couldn't in my life. There wasn't a lot of examples of that. So it was on TV right and I was like, oh, cool, I can be you know, I can be that. And the chemistry, definitely.

I think Scare Chromess King has just a chemistry with the characters that is just so sweet, and the love story and it just has the whole package. That's why I think people still keep picking it up. And my daughter. I got my twenty year old daughter into Scarechrimissus King, and she actually came to the Hollywood Show with me. She was so into it, and it kind of transcends generations, I think a little bit, you know, when you have that special mix in there.

So yeah, when. We started the podcast, it was the first time I'd watched the show in many years. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it held up, because I really wasn't sure. You just never know when you go back and watch something from years past, how much it may or may not still resonate. And it it's in a lot of ways, it feels it feels very timeless, despite the fact that yes, there are no cell phones and.

You know that whole thing. But yeah, it's really interesting when when and and something that's really hard to figure out how to make it happen. When you have that kind of chemistry not just in your leads, but in the cast as a whole, it all comes together and that magic happens and and you and the scarecrime is this gang a bottle? Yeah, I think they definitely have that. Yeah.

I think it's the that mix that you were all talking about, like the mix of cast, the mix of characters, a mix of situation. I mean, there's something about metaphor for me that that that resonates. And and they even though yes it's it's a housewife and a and a spy, there's something going on that's a metaphor for Amanda King about wanting to become like her own person and a person that is fulfilled on all the levels she wants to be fulfilled at that she may not even know. And so there's a there's a really interesting Again, it sounds really deep because the show is goofy and fun and mostly lighthearted, but it's the same thing that makes Buffy resonate for me, Like, I don't know, it's like a third episode, there's you know, she's she's got to go out and slay some vampires because the hell mouth is opening and and uh, and she's got to meet her team at the club to fight the vampires, and her mom grounds her in her room and and and she's like, no, Mom, I have to go.

And her mom's like, I know, everything in high school feels like it's life or death, but you just you're grounded. And at that moment, I was like, I'm in. I'm in with this show for forever, because it's now a metaphor for being a teenager and being in high school and and it's a metaphor for the angst and the life or death stakes that feel so real and and and it's also the time you learn that you know, at least for me, like, oh, they're real monsters in the world, right, they don't necessarily vampires and you can't stake them, but you there are real bad people in the world, and they're doing bad things and they need to be stopped. And and so that that fantasy element of I'm going to sort of participate in this by loving these characters who are doing the thing I want to do and having this adventure is very powerful, I think.

And one of the reasons we love stories and on all levels in theater and film and television. But as Sharon has pointed out before, like television is in your home, television is your is your your own campfire, right for stories, And so those are the characters that you see every week, you know, or sometimes every day when you think like, oh, we're just looking at television shows. But I'm really fascinated by how much power they have to tell people's stories and to make a sort of dream of bigger and better things, better times. I think that's why a scarecrow. You know, you can if you put everybody into a room, all the fans into a room, like I'm talking about the like the diehard fans, diehard fans, a huge chunk of them are going to be our ages, you know, and you know they're ment to late forties, early fifties, how much it formed, you know, they're adulthood and things in different aspects.

You know. I don't know why. It just feels like there's just something that it ties everybody together, and I think we all go back, like I know I went back to it when I had a rock patch of you know, a lot of chaos in my life with my you know then baby, he's now twenty two. But you know, and I needed to have something that made me feel good, and I went back to that and it just there was something magical about that time of you know, when we were you know, for me when I was ten years old, it just made you feel safe and warm, like you said, the campfire, you know, just something that can just feel good, you know, good again, you know, I don't know. Yah, We're all looking for that way.

Especially now. And I think we did get a lot of bands, a lot of fans to our podcasts during the pandemic. You know, there were a lot of people. We gained a lot of people just because they found us that way, you know, because they were searching out for something and it made them feel good to kind of listen to a bunch of friends you know, talk, you know, and about something that they were interested in. It's like being in a cafe.

I ain't listening to a really good conversation. That's what like some of my favorite podcasts, you're like, oh my god, I'm not I'm done with my coffee, but I got to hear what ends up happening right next to me. You guys, hear from people. They were like, I'm yelling at the I'm yelling at the you know, their device or whatever, like trying to talk to you, you know, talk back to you. And they catch themselves all the time.

We heard that a lot too. That's funny. We haven't heard that one yet. But I'm just so pleased to how many people have actually responded to the show and and said, you know, like, oh, here's what I think, Here's why I think this show was meaningful, Here's what it meant to me, here's what I think about you know. Fared experiences.

It's nice. Yeah, they've gotten some really thoughtful and and really great responses to the episodes. The Hollywood Show. You guys have mentioned a couple of times, what is the Hollywood Show. It's like an event where they bring stories from all sorts of shows.

Yeah. I think it's simarently just to like get you know, meet people and get autographics. And it comes from a wide variety shows. This particular one and they sort of advertised as a little mini scarecrow missus can. They were like the headliner.

Yeah, and so they kind of brought all this together. But normally I think it's just a smattering of different groups from theos and movies that are their son autographs and meet people. Adam West was there and that was actually this is kind of an inside thing. It was very interesting. So Adam West was there and Bruce really really wanted to meet him, and and but he kept, you know, having to be at his table.

So he was like, I'm gonna go sneak off over there and see over there, and so I had to hold down the floor and he went and it was too long the line and he didn't want to cut or anything like that. So he came by and he's like, I'll see him Sunday. He didn't. He didn't come on Sunday. So Bruce between it.

And then a few months later he passed away. And so I felt so for Brooks because he coused to meet Adam. West, so slighter didn't want to cut in line. Yeah, you think that if he walked up to the line, I said, by the way, and Bruce box Lightner, can I just say hello to Adams? You wouldn't even have had that.

Somebody would have been like, go ahead, signed my book. Yeah. It was. It was very sweet, but I feel so bad for him. Yeah, yeah, And It was really a great time because I was helping out.

They got to have dinner. With Bruce and Martha and Greg, so Martha Smith Blade, Francine Desmond on the show, and then Greg who played Jamie, and then Bruce. So it was just very intimate. You know, maybe ten people. There at dinner, and it was really fun and got to hear some great stories and things like that.

I on my site, I called me a cap. I did a walk through the weekend so so people that couldn't go could kind of live vicariously and some videos to of Bruce. So that was so cool. That's so cool. Yeah, it was fun.

I actually brought I brought my twenty year old to that show and she was there grilling Bruce and getting great stories from him, and he would just. Tell her stories for he has no filter. And forty five minutes after the show, Wow, it was great. You know, this young young girl just as interested in Scarecrows. They think he was a little flabbercast.

I think it's funny that Tron now has love. Like when that movie came out, it was a big it was it was a disappointment, and then it's become. A beloved you know love. I loved the movie when it came out and was very excited about it, but you know, it was not a huge success at the time, but now it's this beloved piece of sci fi history. When people would come up, you could I could tell, like when they would come up with stuff, I knew if they were either a Scarecrow fan or they were a Tron fan, you know, just by how how who they were, like, you know, if they were a male or female, you know, or.

A Babylon five. I was going to say Baboni was a big went to, but the Tron fans were We're pretty easy to pick out. The Scarecrow fans are pretty easy. Yeah all right, well so okay, so all right, what was the profile any Gambler fans? Not not that came up, but I'm sure like I was a game.

That was like Bruce Box that was the like, well, I got to keep an eye on this guy. That character was adorable. Yeah, absolutely, Billy Billy, right, I think. So it's so interesting again this sort of how much you can connect now with a fan engagement, with engaging, finding ways to actually meet and see the stars of these shows that you believe that that are beloved. It's very exciting between comic con and and and all these sort of side quests for fan engagement, and it's so like clearly, so meaningful, and everybody's got a show, like you know, we had Robin Bernheim on, a writer from Remington Steel, and she was talking about Not One from the Heart, because that's a movie, you know, the Win calls the Heart, so Wynn calls the Heart.

And she talked about how just massive that and and very very powerful that that fan love is. People have gotten tattoos, you know. And and you're like, well, that sounds like it's a star Trek right, Like like that sounds like you you are a Marvel character and it's a school teacher in a mining town out west like it's but it is a powerful show for the fans of that show. And I just I sort of love that there is now in some ways something for everyone. It's it's hard to find it.

It seems like there's more and more people that are in show as to I mean, back when we were really into it. It seemed like we were like the only ones, and so everybody would. Like keep their their freak flagged like down and low and nobody would see it, and now everybody's just bolling them up, but pulling them and just I you know, and I've always been like, you know what, I don't care. I'm not going to like be like super in your face about it, but I'm not going to be like embarrassed because there's some people that are like, I don't want my family to know, I don't want any of this, and I'm like, whatever, I don't care. Everybody's got weird stuff that they're into, and if this is my weird thing, then that's fine.

I do think it was. It used to be so much harder to find those other finder people for whatever show or book growing in. The forums in the yak groups. Yes, first we found them in the book, but before the before the Internet came along and made it easy to find them. I mean there were some I think Star Trek had like a fan club, but it wasn't easy to reach out to someone and talk about it and you know, enjoy it together.

And that is definitely one of the good things about the fact that we do have the Internet today. It's so much easier to find your people when it comes to whatever show or property it is that that you're interested in and allow you to engage as deeply or as as you wish and as broadly as you wish, because I think we all have, you know, a bunch of different things that we're interested in to some degree or another. And finding other people that that also are as interested is a lot easier than it used to be, which is wonderful. Well, I you know, and there's every every decade has sort of got its its love, and it's nostalgia and all that kind of stuff. But I think because of the sort of the the vast sort of upscale and technology that happened in the eighties for television, for time shifting, for cable, clearly extra resonant about eighties content from movies to television and music.

There's a lot music, yeah, and and that that it's still really one of those ones that's just like we're going to reboot everything from the eighties and we're gonna you know, and and kids are gonna find it and be like that's cool. Yeah, like Miranda gets bragging rights. But you're like you were, you were thinking Firefly was cool at the time it was happening, and not my kids who are like, oh mom, I've heard this show from Firefly. I'm like heard it. I had to watch it when it was preempted for baseball.

Either those those preemptions horrible. And and and D and D is cool again, like you had. Yes, We've been cleaning out my mom's house and I found my character sheet, my hand written character sheet for playing Dungeons and Dragons. And again, it was. Just so uncool to be playing Dungeons and Dragons at the time that I was playing Dungeon Dragons and very few people were doing it.

My friends were doing it, but that was about it. And now it's the hottest thing that's ever happening. There's fifteen television shows, there's seventy million podcasts about people drinking and playing Dungeons and Dragons. I've never played that. I don't know, but I have a nephew I think, who's like thirty, and he does it but hits him as white.

It's super cool. I play Dungeon and Dragons with my step kids every week. Nice. That's awesome. It's fantastic.

And our family friend Anna, who's like a niece to me. For my nephews their ten, bought them a Dungeons and Dragons so that I can give it to him for Christmas, so I can play with them. But they they've seen it, you know, but they don't know how to play yet. So it'll be fun to introduce. It's fun.

Oh my godn't be the gamer. I didn't know it was back. I didn't, Oh, it's back, It's back in a big jobai. We saw Comic Con and get more popular. Certainly the Big Bang theory helped, and just just the whole that was kind of explosion of fandom in general.

And I think that just that pulled all of those people, just like television viewers, out into the open, finding the other people who they could play continue to play the game with if they had didn't have anybody. Well in nostalgia, like we're all like, we're sort of forgetting the nostalgia. I wouldn't be nostalgia for shows and movies in the moment they were happening. When I was a kid, Like i'd be like, oh my god, I can't wait to watch this later. I don't know why, I just was.

I was like, this is gonna be this is I can't wait to watch this later. I was watching it right then. I was enjoying it so much that I couldn't wait to then watch it again. Before the vhi okay, Scarecrow was like right at that, you know, it was on. But it was like I would get my little trustee cassette recorder, the audio cassette recorder that I got into garage sale, I think, and I would record the episode and then listen to it and I would That's.

Why I know like episodes, because I would listen to it over and over and over. And because we didn't have VHS for a while. I think I didn't get that until like the eighty late eighty four or something like that. And then VHS tapes apparently were like expensive because my parents never had any. So initially they were almost one hundred dollars apiece, that's how expensive.

It was. Ridiculous. You had to like, can I re record this? I'm going to record over this. I did that over bad things that I shouldn't have, like someone's wedding, and but it was important, it was very important that I got.

That get up the sketch tape and tape people over the little little chartastic plastic a whole yeah. Oh yeah, yep, yep, oh yeah. I still have Miranda's like what are you talking about? What are you people talking about? Much younger?

I know, I totally did all that stuff. So yeah, I still have my CBS original CBS tapes. Yeah, they have the commercial and all that. Yeah. I have a VHS of the Star Wars Special with commercials, the Star Wars Christmas Special.

Oh it's bird in nineteen seventy eight. Yeah, it was on VHS. I don't even know how I have it, but I have. Somebody copied it for me from something from when they had And it is insane. If you're ever like George Lucas is a genius, you watch that's our special.

Nobody wanted to do it, but they were all contractually obligated. So they're like in my two scenes as hologram and then it's like Wookies, right, and Chewbacca's trying to get home for the holidays and Jefferson Starship is a band in like, they just use a lot of holograms. I've never seen that it is. Watch it tonight. It's on Disney.

It is insane. I don't have to watch it. My husband's a huge Star Wars. He's not seeing it. He'll lose his part.

It's so bad. Okay, all right, but even. Better, even better are the commercials, because this VHS has the commercials that aired in nineteen seventy eight. We should talk about a look back into. What were we doing a time capsule?

Yes, what was happening? Oh my god? Are we all like? Were we all like? It really is like a thing where you're like, Okay, maybe maybe we are all in the matrix.

Maybe we're all like in Vadigo and this isn't real and Bud, yeah, you're like, this is weird. Somebody, it may be one of the weirdest things I've seen. You're like, this aired on television as big as Star Wars fan as I am. I've never seen it. I was in college in nineteen seventy eight and didn't have you know, I.

Didn't see it when it aired. I didn't, Yeah, and so I heard about it years later. But I and it's one of those things I've been meaning to watch on Disney Plus and I haven't. I am going to watch it tonight when I get home. I was going to say I have it on VHS, but apparently it's also on Disney Plus.

Although maybe I should be yes, because I'll get the commercials yes, I do still have a VHS player. I have a couple of them. Actually, Oh I do too. Yeah, and it probably be a lot more fun to watch it with the commercials. So, which is not something you say very often.

I actually didn't see I have a confession. I did not see any of the Star Wars movies until I got married, so ninety four. In ninety four, I think we watched it. My husband was like, no, you have to watch this, so I was like, okay. So he had to watch Scarecrow.

Although he watched Scarecrow when he was a kid. He was Army brecks and he lived in Germany and they would get you know, not as many of them, but he would get to watch them, and there wasn't a lot of TV. So that was one of the shows he got, and he watched it and enjoyed it. So we were able to get married once. Oh my god, yes, it would have been treveste otherwise.

Yeah, I didn't watch any of them until like mid nineties. That's pretty impressive. My husband is not a Star Wars fan, and he's a TV creator and writer and movies and and love sort of a supernatural thing. But he's not really a sci fi guy and Star Wars in particularly, is like and I'm like, okay, I don't know about this. I did not know this about him.

Oh my gosh, this is. No. He's got a very weird lines. He's also not a big sword and sorcery guy. So like, I watched you know, Game of Thrones by myself, and that was no fun.

I mean, it was fun, but it wasn't you know. I got to bene it a lot faster because yeah, we. Have to wait with somebody else. You're like, come on. But when we first started we know each other from college, but we started dating later in life.

He was like, let's get together on Thursday or whatever. And I'm like, well, I'm watching Buffy and Angel so I don't know what you're doing, but you're welcome to come by and bring tay food and so you. Know, he did. So it was fun. That's awesome.

What are your two favorite episodes of Scarecrow? Missus King Mine Brunettes are in, which is season two, somebody attempts to kidnap Amanda. Yeah, yeah, and. Put her up for white slavery and uh, I just I that I like the more angsty episodes myself rather than the big fluffy I like the more aksy see things of you know, them getting well they won't they get together, and then when they are together, but you know, other things are playing against them, things like that, So I always liked those. So Brunette's rand was very intense one.

And then any honestly, any of the European episodes season two European there, I think there were five of them, So any of those, but probably armand Integrancy excellent. All right, who's next, Jen Miranda? Is there any want to go? I like a lot of the early ones priorly someone within season two. Probably my favorite is probably on the website, and that's the one I'm not now nor I've ever been a spy?

And then the other one's probably saved by the bells, And those two just have a lot of humor in them, but also sort of the burgeoning kind of romance between the two of them, like especially you know, when she loses her memory in the one I'm not now nor I've ever been a spy, and yet Lee has to try to convince her that yes, you are a spy. Just the sheer ridiculousness of it, just so clever. I just thought the writing and just the development of the character is like he's actually realizing that, yes, he needs her and he really does like her in some way. On both of those two episodes, you know, when she's kidnapped, the Saved by the Bell, she's kidnapped and he has tried to get her back. So in both cases, I think he realizes he really cares about her.

She shows how smart she is in both cases, you know, because she has to deal with these crazy situations. So those are probably my favorite ones. All right, Miranda, you're up. I can't decide on two, so I'm going to choose three. The first one I choose is Triumvirate.

That's it's always been one of my favorite episodes, even though it's it's it's sort of at the end of the third season. I guess when my first and second season are really my favorites. But so that's my first one. Second one is Three Faces of Emily because I absolutely adore that episode. Jeans Staple brilliant, She's brilliant, She's brilliant.

I wish they would have put her in more. I know, only two episodes was not enough. And then of course, the first time the pilot episode is I would I I've watched that episode probably six hundred times in my lifetime, so it's absolutely my favorite episode. Yeah, it is a very great pilot. It really is.

So it's just perfect. Even Kate said that, she said, this is great, this is a great movie, but how do we make how do we make a show on this? Now? What you know? It establishes character world, the surrounding characters, and then what's at stake, Like, it's really just beautifully done, right, It's really like I was surprised when we when I went to rewatch it.

I mean I love the show, you know, growing up and kind of rewatched it around like in sort of the tough grad school years and for my like reward at two in the morning whenever it was I came home anyway, and uh, but rewatching it, I was I was surprised, how really really well done that pilot was just beautifully shot, really strong pilot. It wasn't one of the pilot one of those pilots. It was kind of needed where the show kind of needed to find itself after that before it sort of hit it stried it. It just it just started out. Coming really well from the from the very beginning.

Those are all good ones. You guys are great. I'm like, oh yeah, that one's good. Oh yeah, okay, well all right, this has been fantastic. It's been really great to connect with you guys, and I really enjoyed your podcast.

And uh, we're gonna shout out call me a cab. Thank you. I'd love to shout out the Serenity Firefly website. Is there another website to shout out for you guys, Jennifer, anything that we can shout out that people can go and support your environmental science work. Not at the top of my head, other than the Colombia and LaMotte River restoration efforts, you know up here in the Pacific Northwest.

Yeah, that's about it. My son went to Willamitte College, my stepson, Spencer. You're aware. Yeah, it's a beautiful area. Is a gorgeous area.

What is it called the Woodlamite? Well, you could do Columbia Willlammette river Keepers, which are the local organizations that they try and restore, cleanup and protect those river systems. Fantastic, we will Well, thank you so much for coming on and belling up to ADCV Lady fanbar and talking fan fan love this has been so much fun. You guys are great, good luck with everything. Thank you, thank you, bye bye bye bye.

So for today's audio agraphy, let's start with the Missus King Chronicles podcast. The official website is mc kpodcast dot com. And it can be found on Apple Podcasts. And Taya's website, Call Me a Cab can be found at call Me a Cab dot com. C A L L M E A C A b dot com.

You can find Miranda's Firefly podcast at serenity firefly dot. Com, and Jennifer mentioned the Columbia will lam It Riverkeepers, which can be found at will Lammett Dash Riverkeeper dot org and we'll also be linked from our website. So we have a question for you, dear listeners. Why do we love these shows so much? Why do we love television and TV characters, especially from those nineteen eighties ladies driven shows.

Is it nostalgia? Is it that we're a nation of adults so obsessed with our childhood that we must relive it, each and every moment of it. Let us know what you think. As always, thank you so much for listening to eighties TV ladies. You can always reach out to us at our website.

Eightiestv Ladies dot com. That's eight zero s tvladies dot com. Or send us an email eightiestv Ladies at gmail dot com. We hope Eighties TV Ladies brings you joy and laughter and lots of fabulous new and old shows to watch, all of which lead us forward toward being amazing ladies of the twenty first century. Thanks for listening, babies, dais hand so pretty.

As deput into the city. Every step, every train. It getting working hard. For the money. The man World Eighties Deadlights